Operation Asha

I have seen first hand the work that Operation ASHA has done, visited their centers and talked with their CHWs and patients. By all means they are helping their communities to combat the TB epidemic at the greatest ease to the patients possible. Moreover, they are providing

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Nonprofit Overview

Mission: Expand access to services and products of a high quality at affordable prices among disadvantaged communities worldwide with a focus on delivery of health services. We do this by providing the last mile connectivity, i.e. health service delivery at the doorsteps of the under-served.

Results: 1. 30,000+ TB patients treated in more than 3000 disadvantaged communities.
2. 5.86 million people educated about TB in India and Cambodia.
3. More than 10 MDR patients successfully treated.
4. 63 MDR-TB patients under treatment.
5. Supporting one XDR patient and one XXDR patient with medicines and protein supplements.
6. Distributed 570,000 painkillers, 780,000 antacid tablets, 315,000 antiemetic tablets, 240,000 iron tablets, 45,000 calcium tablets, 30,000 condoms, 12000 sachets of Oral Rehydration Salt, 3,500 packets of protein supplements, 5 tons of food and 4000 blankets.
7. 24 Female TB patients were provided vocational training to prevent them from being abandoned by families.
8. $150/year increased income through reinstated productivity from TB treatment (Govt. of India) equivalent to an annuity of $1,857. Thus, treated patients have benefited by a whopping $56 million.
9. $13,000 saved by economy for each person treated (Annual TB Report 2011: Govt. of India): Indian and Cambodian economies have saved $390 million.
10. 190 disadvantaged persons provided dignified sustainable full time work.
11. Income of 178 micro-entrepreneurs in disadvantaged localities, who work as partners of Operation ASHA enhanced substantially.
12. Social return on investment of 3217%. In other words, for every dollar invested, the society and the economy benefit by $32.17.

Target demographics: Disadvantaged TB patients

Geographic areas served: India and Cambodia

Programs: TB treatment and affordable high quality health services to disadvantaged people at their door steps.

Community Stories

403 Stories from Volunteers, Donors & Supporters

I have seen first hand the work that Operation ASHA has done, visited their centers and talked with their CHWs and patients. By all means they are helping their communities to combat the TB epidemic at the greatest ease to the patients possible. Moreover, they are providing jobs to slum dwellers to work as CHWs. These CHWs are having outstanding impact and are making more money than they normally would be able to coming out of the slums -- all while giving back to their communities. Great work, I highly recommend OpASHA to all.

Operation ASHA is one of the world’s largest NGOs dedicated to bringing lifesaving tuberculosis (TB) treatment and other forms of healthcare to underserved communities. Through volunteering here, we’ve had the opportunity to see how this organization functions and witness the real, positive impact it’s had on people’s lives.

We realized that Operation ASHA has seen so much success in its treatment program because of the dedicated people working behind it. The importance of having devoted, human advocates to back any kind of technology is critical in social development work. Without this factor, the technology has a higher risk of failing its purpose.

Something else Operation ASHA prioritizes is the education of these underserved communities revolving around matters of the disease. Educating populations about tuberculosis serves the purposes of reducing stigma, recognizing symptoms, and knowing when to seek help.

Through these measures, and more, Operation ASHA has found great success in treating over 75,000 cases of TB, effectively serving a population of more than 15.6 million. The organization overall does great work in dedicating time to a very necessary cause.

Operation ASHA is a rare combination of innovative, cost-effective, and truly patient-centered. I'm excited to see the immense impact that this organization can have on these devastating diseases and needless suffering, as Operation ASHA and its impact continue to grow.

I have been interning with Operation ASHA for the summer and have worked closely with them and learned about their numerous achievements which are a proof excellent work done by the organisation in providing high quality healthcare services to disadvantaged communties (specialising in TB & MDR-TB). I have never seen a non-profit work so efficiently and develop technologies to detect and keep an account of health issues in their patients. Imagine the impact that could be made if OpASHA's model could be rolled out everywhere where there is TB and be applied to other problems as well; we could save so many lives!

Operation ASHA provides a very friendly environment where people work together to learn. OpASHA has a dedicated staff and a very transparent working model. The staff is highly motivated and technology driven and is extremely proud of what they are doing to make a difference in the life of someone in need. I have been given various opportunities to serve the organization in various roles, which indeed gave me a lot of learning opportunities.

I had a chance to meet the team in Delhi and was given a tour of one of the neighborhood clinics. They are well organized and run very lean. I was impressed by the the entire staff and their ability to tackle the complicated issues of TB treatment.

In the summer of 2018, I had the opportunity to intern at Operation ASHA based in New Delhi, India. Operation ASHA, OpASHA for short, is one of the largest NGOs in the world with the mission of bringing lifesaving tuberculosis (TB) treatment to underserved communities.

While TB is eradicated in the U.S., this is not the case in many other countries around the world. Each year 10.4 million people fall ill with tuberculosis and 1.8 million die. Of those who fall ill, 1 million are children, and 100,000 of these children lose their lives. Furthermore, their is a huge stigma surrounding TB, perpetuated by fear and misunderstanding. Because of this stigma, 100,000 women are thrown out of their homes if families suspect they have TB, and 300,000 children are forced to leave school for the same reason. Keeping this in mind, also know that India in particular holds 27% of the world's global TB burden. It is for this reason that OpASHA works out of New Delhi to ensure last-mile delivery of much needed healthcare.

OpASHA has had great success because of their unique delivery model. It is low cost, high impact, local, and sustainable. Using a simple tablet and fingerprint scanner, OpASHA trains community health workers to keep track of and help patients, thereby ensuring the full, 6-month delivery of medication needed to treat TB. With this model, just $80 treats each patient. If patients default out of the program, they are at risk of developing drug resistant TB, an even more lethal disease. OpASHA's system reduces default rate to an unprecedented 3%, thereby increasing treatment success rate to 89% and reducing the risk of developing a drug resistant form of TB.

During my internship, I've had the opportunity to see how this organization functions and witness the real, positive way it has impacted people's lives. I've been able to go on site visits to see the last-mile delivery of treatment in action. I've been present when TB patients arrive at the health center, scan their fingerprint, and get their medication. The photo attached is from a site visit. Serving a population of over 15.6 million since the organization began, OpASHA has made a real difference in people's lives.

As an intern, I had an amazing experience working for Operation ASHA so far. I have been given many great opportunities to learn more about the organization, as well as how a highly successful nonprofit functions and is led. I have been able to go on site visits to DOTS centers and learn more about the eCompliance biometric technology that is utilized in OpASHA's treatment model. Additionally, I've had the opportunity to sit in on meetings with the senior management team. From these meetings, one could see how dedicated and passionate everyone who works at OpASHA is about their work. I am grateful for this experience, and am excited to see the future growing success of OpASHA.

During a conference on tuberculosis vaccines I had the chance to visit Operation ASHA. This visit was certainly the most impressive experience of all - from the treatment sites in the slums to the headquarters where all the hard-working people coordinate their efforts to deliver TB treatment to those that may not receive treatment otherwise. So inspiring how modern technology is used to improve lives. Thanks to everyone working for ASHA, you really make a difference every day!

I have been working with Operation ASHA since Feb 2017. Initially, I was appointed as Deputy CTO. After a year I was made the CTO & Director Development. My experience working here has far exceeded my expectations. The CEO and Co-Founder, Sandeep is a wonderful boss. He is very adjusting and strives to bring out the best in his employees. What I like about working at Operation ASHA is the huge impact I can make in terms of saving lives and improving the quality of life of thousands of disadvantaged people through a single decision. I also like the variety in the work I do on a daily basis — be it project management, android programming, technical grant writing, giving talks and presentations, networking and forming collaborations and also supervising field visits.I hope, rather, I am confident that the organization will scale multifold in the coming years and will contribute greatly to eradicating TB not just in India, but in other developing countries as well.

The work which Operation ASHA is doing is just amazing. As most of the poor in India and Cambodia lack health care services. Both of the countries are in 22 most high burden countries with TB. Operation ASHA is contributing a lot through it's really scalable, innovative and low cost model

I had a poor experience with the management in India. After expressing interest in volunteering they responded very unprofessionally, ordering me to speak with them at certain times and giving no consideration of my schedule. After rearranging my schedule on several occasions to talk with them they abruptly told me nothing was available. It was very disappointing to volunteer only to be treated so rudely.

OpAHSA has a very interesting and successful model for providing TB medications to people in India who would otherwise either not get medication or would not take their medications regularly. Not taking TB medication regularly leads to multi-drug resistant TB, which, when it spreads is an even bigger public health problem. Specifically OpASHA is able to check compliance with medication by using fingerprints to document that persons have shown up to take their medication and directly observating them taking their medication. Although very resource intensive, OpAHSA has local health workers who can go and find persons who do not show up to take their medications and then get their medications to them.